Manufacture of single bladed forged ax heads



Feb. 27, 1934. I H. A. VAUGHAN ET AL MANUFACTURE OF SINGLE BLADED FORGED AX HEADS Filed April 17 1930 Patented Feb. 27, 1934 UNITED STATES MANUFACTURE OF SINGLE BLADED FORGED AX HEADS Howard Adams Vaughan, Gunar Olson, and Erick Erickson, Chicago, Ill., assignors to Vaughan & Bushnell Mfg. 00., Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application April 17, 1930. Serial No. 444,926

2 Claims.

The present invention relates generally to the manufacture of forged ax heads. More particularly, the invention relates to the manufacture of that type of ax head which consists of (1) a poll having a flattened, hammer-forming portion at one end thereof and a handle-receiving eye extending transversely therethrough, and (2) a separately formed blade which is welded to the other end of the poll.

The object of the invention is to provide an improved method of forming a forged ax head of the aforementioned type which is generally an improvement upon previously employed methods and results in the production of an improved and exceptionally strong and durable ax head.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method of forming a forged ax head of the type under consideration which includes forming a single bar of metal into a poll blank consisting of a comparatively thick, hammer-forming central portion and a pair of outwardly extending, eye-forming extensions, then bending the extensions together to form poll sides and the handlereceiving eye and then by a single welding operation, joining together the outer ends of the extensions to complete the poll and uniting the blade to the outer ends of the extension to complete the ax head.

Other objects of the invention and the vari- 1 ous advantages and characteristics of the present method will be apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description.

The invention consists in the several novel features which are hereinafter set forth and are more particularly defined by the claims at the conclusion hereof.

In the drawing which accompanies and forms a part of this specification or disclosure and in which like numerals of reference denote corresponding parts throughout the several views:

Figure 1 is aperspective of a bar of metal from which the poll blank is forged;

Figures 2 and 3 are perspectives of the poll blank after it is forged from the metal bar of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a sectional view of the dies which are used in connection with the forging of the metal bar into the blank of Figures 2 and 3;

Figure 5 is a perspective of the poll blank after to removal of the flash;

Figure 6 is a perspective of the poll blank after bending together of the extensions to form the sides of the poll and the handle-receiving eye;

Figure '7 is a perspective of the forged blank 65 from which the blade of the ax head is formed;

Figure 8 is a perspective of the blade blank after the flash has been removed therefrom and it is in readiness for connection to the poll in order to complete the ax head; and

Figure 9 is a perspective of the finished ax head after union of the poll and blade by weld- The method which forms the subject matter of the invention has reference to the making or fabricating of a forged ax head of the type that embodies a poll with a handle-receiving eye extending therethrough and a separately formed, forged blade which is welded to the poll, and con-- templates forging the poll from a bar 10 of any suitable metal. The bar, as shown in Figure 1 of the drawing, is rectangular. It is preferably formed of comparatively soft steel so that the poll which is formed therefrom will not fracture when it is used for hammering purposes. The first step of forming the poll consists in heating [5 the bar 10 to the proper degree of temperature to render it ductile. Thereafter, the heated bar is placed between a pair of dies 11 and 12 and is forged into a poll blank of the shape shown in Figures 2 and 3. It is contemplated so that the dies 11 and 12 be mounted in a drop hammer and approximately four blows of the hammer are suflicient to effect the desired shaping of the metal. The die 12 is held in a fixed position on the hammer and embodies a central socket 12 to receive the bar 10. The die 11 is movably mounted on the hammer above the die 12 and has a depending curved rib 11 which is adapted during the down stroke of the die to fit Within the upper end of the socket 12 as shown in Figure 4, and to form with said socket a comparatively thick, hammer-forming portion 13 at the center of the poll blank. The die 12 embodies faces 12 which extend outwardly from the socket 12 and coact with faces 11 which extend outwardly from the rib 11 to form laterally extending extensions 14 and 15 on the poll blank during the hammering or forging operation. The extensions 14 and 15 are of reduced thickness and are adapted, as hereinafter described, during further treatment of the poll blank, to be bent together to form the sides of the poll of the ax head with a handle-receiving eye 21 therebetween. The rib 11 of the movable die 11 is substantially semi-cylindrical in cross section so that the inner face of the hammer-forming portion 13 is concave and forms the crown of the handle-receiving eye 21.

The inner faces of the extensions 14 and 15 of the poll blank, that is, the faces which are formed by the faces 11 of the die 11, are substantially flat and the outer faces of the extensions 14 and 15, that is, the faces which are formed by the faces 12 of the die 12 are transversely convex. As a result of this arrangement, tie poll of the ax head, after it is completed by swinging together the extensions 14 and 15, has slightly convex outer faces at the sides thereof and the sides of the handle-receiving eye are substantially flat. outwardly of the faces 11, the die 11 is provided or formed with grooves 11. These grooves cause outwardly tapered ribs 17 to be formed at the ends of the extensions 14 and 15. These ribs form the meeting faces of the extensions 14 and 15 below the eye 21 when the extensions are bent together to form the sides of he poll of the ax and are only of such height as to provide sufficient metal whereby the extensions may be joined together by a weld to close the lower end of the poll. In forging the bar 10 into the poll blank by way of the dies 11 and 12, the excess metal is spread into flash 18 around the hammer-forming portion 13 and the side forming extensions 14 and 15, and a stub 19 is preferably formed so that the blank may be gripped by tongues and removed from the dies after the forging or hammering operation. If desired. the die 11 may be provided with recesses on the faces ll thereof to form ribs 25 on the inner faces of the extensions 14 and 15 for the purpose of locking the handle in the eye 21. After forging of the poll blank by the dies 11 and 12, the blank is removed from the dies and the fiash l8 and stub 19 are trimmed so that the blank is in the form shown in Figure 5. If it is desired that the poll have a brand or trade-mark 22 on the outer faces of the sides, the brand or mark may be stamped onto the outer faces of the side/forming extensions 14 and 15 of the poll blank after trimming of the flash and the stub 19 and while the blank is in the shape or form shown in Figure 5, that is, before the side-forming extensions 14 and 15 are bent together to form the sides of the poll.

After trimming of the flash 18 and stub 19 from the poll blank, the extensions 14 and 15 are bent together so as to bring the ribs 17 into parallel and substantially abutting relation as shown in Figure 6. This bending results in the poll blank forming the completed poll of the ax head. In the completed poll, the hammer-forming central portion 13 of the poll blank forms the hammer end of the poll and the extensions 14 and 15 form the sides of the poll with the handle receiving eye 21 therebetween. Trimming of the flash and stub 19, stamping of the brand or trade-mark on the extensions 14 and 15 and bending of the extensions together are preferably done in rapid succession and while the metal is still hot from the original heating operation, so as to avoid the necessity of reheating the blank for any or all of these different steps.

The blade is made separately from the poll and is substantially fulllength. It is formed by forging a bar of high grade steel between suitable dies to form a blank of the type shown in Figure 7. This blank consists of a blade portion 24 and flash 23 and is formed into the blade by trimming the flash from the blade portion. After trimming of the flash from the blade portion, the blade portion is arranged so that the upper edge thereof is in contact or abutment with the lower edges of the sides of the poll. When the blade is so arranged, the blade and both sides of the poll are simultaneously electrically welded together so that the ribs 17 on both sides of the poll are united to each other and the lower edges of the ribs are united to the lower edges of the blades. Welding of the blade to the poll produces slag at the weld joint and this slag is chipped off or hammered while the slag and poll are hot. After chipping off of the slag, the ax head is polished and the lower end of the blade is ground to form a cutting edge. A characteristic and an advantage of joining together the ribs 17 and uniting the blades to the sides of the poll by a. single welding operation is that the cost of production is reduced to a minimum and the head is exceptionally strong and durable. By forming the poll of soft or low grade steel and the blade of high grade steel, the shocks incident to use of the ax head as a hammer are absorbed and there is little, if any, likelihood of blade fracture. An advantage of uniting the sides of the poll together immediately beneath the eye 21 and forming the blade so that it is substantially full length is that the cutting edge of the blade is not subjected to the high welding temperature and a change in or destruction of the analysis of the steel blade is thus prevented during the blade and poll welding operation. By forming the blade so that it is of hard, high grade steel and so that it is substantially full length, the ax head when used as a pry is not likely to bend.

The herein disclosed method of making a single bladed, forged ax head is extremely simple and results in an ax head which possesses exceptional strength and durability.

The invention is not to be understood as restricted to the details set forth, since these may be modified within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. That improvement in the manufacture of axes which consists in drop forging metal into a poll blank with a central portion and outwardly extending side portions adapted to form a handle socket between them and meeting portions terminating immediately below the socket and only of substantially sufiicient height to form a weld-joint between their meeting faces, bending the side portions together to form said socket and electrically welding by a single operation substantially the entire meeting faces of said side portions together, and a cutting blade which forms substantially the entire working area of the ax to the ends of the side portions immediately adjacent the socket.

2. That improvement in the manufacture of ex heads which consists in drop forging a bar of metal into a poll blank having a comparatively thick, hammer-forming central portion and a pair of laterally and oppositely extending side portions with short, outwardly tapered ribs at the outer ends of said side portion, bending the side portions of the poll blank together so as to bring the ribs into substantially abutting relation for poll-forming purposes and also to form a handle-receiving socket, and then by a single electric weld joining together the adjoining faces of the ribs to complete the poll and unifing to the ribs a substantially full length blade of hard metal.

HOWARD ADAMS VAUGHAN. GUNAR OLSON. ERICK ERICKSON. 

